Same sex marriage advocates will look to Legislature for change

9:46 PM, October 16, 2013

Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau

LANSING — With the same-sex marriage issue put on hold until Feb. 25 in federal court, attention will turn toward the state Legislature to try to get some action on the issue.

Democrats have introduced a handful of bills in both the House and Senate that would: repeal the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and legalize those unions, and allow same sex, second parents to adopt the children of their partners.

The bills have had little chance of getting a hearing or a vote in the Republican-controlled Legislature.

But that won’t stop Democrats from pushing the measures in both chambers.

“We have a hole in our laws in Michigan: Children have different rights depending on the status of their parents,” said state Rep. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, who sponsored the legislation allowing for same-sex adoptions. “I think that’s clearly wrong.”

He’s especially frustrated that the committee dealing with adoption issues — the House Families, Children and Seniors Committee — passed a bill last month that would allow private adoption agencies to refuse to participate in adoptions that violate their “sincerely held religious beliefs,” including adoption by same-sex couples.

State Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, sponsored legislation that would change the state’s marriage laws to remove the prohibition of same-sex marriage. While she’ll try to get the bill either a hearing in committee or discharged to the full Senate, the public might have a better shot at influencing Republicans, who hold a 26-12 majority in the Senate.

“When we see the public get engaged, the Legislature often reacts to that,” she said.

“There’s reason to be optimistic,” Whitmer added, because several Republicans have said they are open to adding sexual orientation to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, which would protect the LGBT community from discrimination in employment and housing.

But the marriage issue might be a tougher sell in the Legislature.

By a 59%-41% margin, Michigan voters passed a constitutional amendment in 2004 declaring marriage a union between one man and one woman. But in nearly a decade since that vote, attitudes in Michigan have changed.

A statewide poll of 600 registered voters, done by the Glengariff Group in May, showed 56.8% of Michiganders surveyed support same-sex marriage, with the margins even greater among Democratic voters.

Both Gov. Rick Snyder and Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville have said the marriage and adoption issues are not on their radar for action.